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The Ministry of Defence might shut down its Hebridean missile range — which supports hundreds of jobs and is vital to the local economy — if an independent Scotland attempted to expel Trident, a leading expert has said.

The warning came after Alex Salmond said that the range was more valuable to Nato and Europe than the nuclear weapons system on the Clyde.

The first minister insists that Trident will have to leave Faslane in the first term of an independent Scotland, which would begin in 2016.

Last night, one of the UK’s most eminent defence experts told The Times that Westminster